Letter to the Church in Caldwell County,
Missouri, 16 December 1838

but the saviour said that offences must come
but woe unto them by whom they come,
and again blessed are ye when all men shall revile you and speak all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding
glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you. Now dear brethren if any men ever had reason to claim this
promise we are the men, for we know that the world not only hates us but
speak all manner of evil of us falsely for
no other reason than because we have been endeavoring to teach the fulness
of the gospel of Jesus Christ after we were bartered away by
Hinkle

and were taken into the militia camp we
had all the evidence we could have wished for that the world hated us and
that most cordially too. If there were priests of all the different sects
they hated us, if there were Generals they hated us, if there were
Colonels they hated us, and the soldiers and officers of every kind hated
us, and the most profane blasphemers and drunkards & whoremongers
hated us, they all hated us most cordially. And now what did they hate us
for, purely because of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Was it because we
were liars? We know that it has been reported by some but it has been
reported falsely Was it because we have committed treason against the
government in
Daviess County

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

or of burglary,
or of larceny or arson, or any other unlawful act in
Daviess county

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

. We know that certain priests and certain lawyers and certain
judges who are the instigators aiders and abettors of a certain gang of
murderers and robbers who have been carrying on a scheme of mobocracy to
uphold their priestcraft against the saints of the last days for a number
of years and have tried by a well contemplated and premeditated schemes
to put down by physical power a system of religion that all the world
by all their mutual attainments and by any fair means whatever were not
able to resist. Hence, mobbers were encouraged by priests and Levites, by
the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenees, and the Herodians, and the most
ruthless, abandoned, and debauched, lawless inhuman and the most beastly
set of men that the earth can boast of; and indeed a parallel cannot be
found any where else; to gather together to steal to plunder to starve and
to exterminate and burn the houses of the Mormons these are the characters
that by their treasonable and avert acts have desolated and laid waste
Daviess County

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

these are
the characters that would fain make all the world believe that we are
guilty of the above named acts. But they represent us
[p. 3]

but the saviour said that offences must come
but woe unto them by whom they come,
and again blessed are ye when all men shall revile you and speak all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding
glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the
prophets which were before you. Now dear brethren if any men ever had reason to claim this
promise we are the men, for we know that the world not only hates us but
but speak all manner of evil of us falsely for
no other reason than because we have been endeavoring to teach the fulness
of the gospel of Jesus Christ after we were bartered away by
Hinkle

and were taken into the militia camp we
had all the evidence we could have wished for that the world hated us and
that most cordially too. If there were priests of all the different sects
they hated us, if there were Generals they hated us, if there were
Colonels they hated us, and the soldiers and officers of every kind hated
us, and the most profane blasphemers and drunkards & whoremongers
hated us, they all hated us most cordially. And now what did they hate us
for, purely because of the testimony of Jesus Christ. Was it because we
were liars? We know that it has been reported by some but it has been
reported falsely Was it because we have committed treason against the
government in
Daviess County

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

or of burglary,
or of larceny or arson, or any other unlawful act in
Daviess county

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

. We know that certain priests and certain lawyers and certain
judges who are the instigators aiders and abettors of a certain gang of
murderers and robbers who have been carrying on a scheme of mobocracy to
uphold their priestcraft against the saints of the last days for a number
of years and have tried by a well contemplated and premeditated schemes
to put down by physical power a system of religion that all the world
by all their mutual attainments and by any fair means whatever were not
able to resist. Hence, mobbers were encouraged by priests and Levites, by
the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenees, and the Herodians, and the most
ruthless, abandoned, and debauched, lawless inhuman and the most beastly
set of men that the earth can boast of; and indeed a parallel cannot be
found any where else; to gather together to steal to plunder to starve and
to exterminate and burn the houses of the Mormons these are the characters
that by their treasonable and avert acts have desolated and laid waste
Daviess County

Area in northwest Missouri settled by European Americans, 1830. Sparsely inhabited until 1838. Created from Ray Co., Dec. 1836, in attempt to resolve conflicts related to Mormon settlement in that region. County is transected diagonally from northwest to ...

Located in western Missouri, thirteen miles north of Independence. Settled 1820. Clay Co. seat, 1822. Incorporated as town, May 1829. Following expulsion from Jackson Co., 1833, many Latter-day Saints found refuge in Clay Co., with church leaders and other...

Located in northwest Missouri. Settled by whites, by 1831. Described as being “one-third timber and two-thirds prairie” in 1836. Created specifically for Latter-day Saints by Missouri state legislature, 29 Dec. 1836, in attempt to solve “Mormon problem.” ...